* Nearly 10 years later POITRA would again create photo-simulations for RTD's Central Corridor. Poitra provided simulations for the second extension of the corridor running from downtown along Downing Street to a station on the proposed East Corridor Line that connects to Denver International Airport (DIA). POITRA also created and maintained the Central Corridor and East Corridor public outreach websites for RTD.

The South Platte Valley Corridor is first extension or spur from Denver's original RTD Central Corridor light rail transit (LRT) system.*
The original line runs from the Broadway Station past the Auraria Campus, through downtown and north to the Five Points neighborhood. The South Platte Valley Corridor joins the line at Auraria and runs north past the Lower Platte Valley attractions to Denver Union Terminal (DUT) in downtown Denver.

POITRA was selected to help quickly convey station concepts for the three most important new stations along the line. The most important station being the connection at DUT. The old Union Terminal served as the passenger rail station for Denver during the peak of cross-country passenger rail travel in the 1940's and 1950's. It is the proposed hub for all future commuter rail transit service in Denver connecting all of RTD's proposed commuter corridors.

Mouse-over images above to toggle between the existing photo and the photosimulation.

As the South Platte line is the first commuter transit service to reach DUT, the existing terminal was still in its nearly unused state. The old heavy rail platforms would require replacement to accommodate the new LRT service. Photo-simulations was determined to be the best medium for accurate evaluation and for confident presentation to public stakeholders. POITRA created each photo-simulation using combined 3D rendering and photo-simulation techniques.

Once again, thank you for all your help in creating a great product! The simulations were one of the highlights of the meeting - many people were enticed. Your work helped to describe to people what the stations will likely look like.”

K.K., BRW/URS Corp
South Platte Corridor P.R. Manager

POITRA photographed several views of DUT with the intent of best describing its new LRT character. Once the final view was selected, the existing platforms, canopies and parking had to be reconfigured to match the Engineer's proposed LRT station design. The original station structures, bare ground, construction debris and abandoned rail were removed using traditional digital painting techniques. The modified photograph then served as the base image for proposed LRT simulation.

POITRA then created a 3D site model that included the track bed, rails, LRT platforms, station amenities, canopies, catenary system and POITRA model RTD Siemens Duewag 100 LRT vehicles. The model was camera matched, lighted, rendered and composited with the base photograph. Landscaping and station patrons were added to create the final LRT photo-simulation.

Graphic artists at POITRA set the simulation in a display board format with simulation location map for printing. The finished displays were used in meetings with the city, Union Station representatives and public stakeholders. The final images were also used in project environmental documents.